Parking garage rate hike paying off in more revenue to city

PETER GUINTA

Tuesday

Feb 28, 2012 at 11:00 PM

Officials hope to raise $1.1M yearly

The higher parking rates charged at St. Augustine’s Historic Downtown Parking Structure since September do match official predictions, but Assistant City Manager Tim Burchfield said Tuesday that the busy March-April-May season will grow the garage revenue much faster.

Right now, locals pay $1 per day if they have a ParkNow card, available at the city’s Financial Center.

Everyone else is charged $10 per day.

“We’ve had very few complaints (about the higher fees),” Burchfield said. “Technically, (the city is) an attraction. At Disney, they pay $15 to $16 to park.”

The idea was initially proposed by City Manager John Regan in August as a way to raise money to pay the matching fees for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood mitigation grant that will pay for the St. Augustine Seawall.

The city’s match will cost $203,000 per year for 10 years.

“John started to put feelers out and saw that the commissioners might be receptive. We studied the numbers and they liked it,” Burchfield said.

Calculations made at the time predicted that the higher fees would raise $1.1 million per year. With that, the city can pay its match payments without strain and use what is left of the money for other things.

The garage must make roughly $100,000 per month to pay its mortgage.

“In March, we should have more specific numbers,” Burchfield said.

Another city department, Public Works, is also helping the parking structure’s financial picture by lowering its costs.

Director Martha Graham asked the City Commission this week for $60,000 from General Fund reserves to pay for changing all the high pressure sodium bulbs on the garage’s first floor to LED, or light-emitting diode, bulbs, which require much less electricity and produce no heat.

This was granted.

After a savings is realized, the reserves will be paid back.

Earlier, Graham had directed the change to LEDs on the second and third floors and the rooftop due to a $250,000 grant from the federal Department of Energy’s energy conservation effort.

“The change to LED will save the city $80,000 a year in electricity costs,” she said. “It will take about two and a half years to get our ($60,000) investment back (because) we only have part of the work completed.”

She said some other cities had not used all federal money available, so there may be some left for future grants.

“We’re going to ask for some additional money in April,” she said. “(Overall), we’re lowering expenses and raising revenues.”

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.

Stay Connected

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
The St. Augustine Record ~ One News Place, St. Augustine, FL 32086 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service